China's Xizang quake kills 126, all-out rescue effort underway
Images | Xinhua/Jigme Dorje
A total of 126 people have been confirmed dead and 188 others injured after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on Tuesday morning, toppling thousands of rural houses on the northern slope of the Himalayas, Xinhua reports.
The earthquake struck at 9:05 a.m. (Beijing Time), with the epicenter located in Tsogo Township, Dingri County, in the city of Xigaze. There are 27 villages and approximately 6,900 people within a 20-km radius of the epicenter.
A preliminary survey shows 3,609 houses have collapsed, said the city government of Xigaze, adding that 407 trapped people have been rescued and over 30,000 affected residents have been relocated.
The search for trapped victims is ongoing. Rescuers are also racing against time to set up tents for relocated residents in an area where temperatures are forecast to drop to minus 17 degrees Celsius.
In Tsogo Township at the epicenter and the worst-hit Chamco Township, Xinhua correspondents saw many toppled houses and residents staying in open spaces for safety.
The first shock wave struck before dawn, and it made lights and furniture shake," said 49-year-old Pasang Tsering, a villager from Metog Village in Tsogo. "Then came a second and stronger one, so I dashed outside immediately," he recounted to Xinhua.
I've never seen an earthquake this big before," another villager named Pasang said while clearing house debris. "We're now most concerned with where to spend the night. The village has some spare tents, and officials said more are on the way."
Tsering Phuntsog, Party chief of Gurum Village in Chamco, lost his 74-year-old mother, and several other family members remained buried in debris. The village with 222 residents reported 22 deaths, including 11 children, he said, adding that all the houses in the village were damaged.
Even young people couldn't run out of the houses when the earthquake hit, let alone old people and children," said Tsering Phuntsog.
Earlier it was reported that fifty-three people have been confirmed dead, and 62 others injured as of Tuesday noon, after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted Dingri County in the city of Xigaze in Xizang Autonomous Region at 9:05 a.m. Tuesday (Beijing Time).
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166-million-year-old dinosaur footprints unearthed in Oxfordshire
Images | wam.ae
The UK’s largest dinosaur trackway has been uncovered in a quarry in Oxfordshire, revealing a fascinating glimpse into the Jurassic past, WAM reports.
In an exceptional discovery, palaeontologists from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham have uncovered hundreds of dinosaur footprints at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, according to Euro News.
The site, dating back 166 million years to the Middle Jurassic Period, reveals a "dinosaur highway" featuring the tracks of both herbivorous and carnivorous species, including the fearsome predator megalosaurus.
The excavation, completed in June 2024, uncovered five major trackways, with the longest stretching over 150 metres.
Four were created by sauropods, massive long-necked herbivores such as cetiosaurus, which could grow up to 18 metres long. The fifth trackway belongs to the megalosaurus, a nine-metre-long carnivorous theropod known for its clawed, three-toed footprints.
Earlier it was reported that fossil of pterosaurs’ forerunners were unearthed in Brazil.
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Trains collide near Russia's Murmansk, number of injured people rises to 31
Images | Transport Prosecutor’s Office/TASS
The number of injured people in the collision of freight and passenger trains in the Kandalaksha district of the Murmansk Region has increased to 31 people, including five children, the Russian Railway’s press office said in a statement on Thursday, TASS reports.
According to the statement, "31 people sustained injuries, including five children. Fourteen people are hospitalized with four out of them in serious condition," the statement reads.
Murmansk Region Governor Andrey Chibis stated earlier in the day that one of victims in the trains’ collision died in a hospital bringing the death toll to two people.
Dmitry Panychev, a deputy governor of the Murmansk Region and the regional health minister, told TASS earlier that five people, including two 14-year teenagers, requested medical assistance at local hospitals on their own, while two more people declined hospitalization.
The collision involved a freight train and a passenger train, which was en route from Murmansk to St. Petersburg. According to Russian Railways, there were 326 passengers on board the passenger train. The accident derailed 19 train cars, including 15 freight cars. A criminal investigation has been opened into a violation of safety rules.
An emergency management services representative said a malfunction of the freight train was suspected as the cause of the collision. Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said he would personally supervise the provision of medical assistance to the victims.
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